Drinking in Sai Gon: Bars and clubs
Saigon has plenty of places to drink, although to a certain degree Vietnamese and foreigners hang out in different places; however this is slowly changing as Westerners become more familiar with the ways of the East (and vice versa). Places with live music usually have no cover charge, but impose somewhat elevated drink prices (typically 55,000 – 85,000 for beer, spirits, and cocktails.)
Saigon is an early-to-bed town, and most places close at midnight in accordance with government-imposed restrictions. Some places remain open later (Go2 Bar in Pham Ngu Lao – popular with backpackers/budget crowd; Apocalypse Now on Thi Sach St – packed with people from all walks of life (you can find anything in this place regardless of your preferences (prostitutes straight/gay, drugs or just a place to dance the night away); ZanZBar on Dong Du St – will appeal to the “regular” bar crowd and closing time changes daily depending on the number of people in the bar). There are other late night clubs which cater almost exclusively to the young Vietnamese crowd.
Where you can find tourists
- ZanZBar, located at 41 Dong Du St, Q1 with a second entrance through the lobby of the Saigon Hotel. Casual-upscale, the clients tend to come for the great choice of wines-by-the-glass (huge walk-in wine cellar), for the bespoke cocktail range (using only premium brands) and good selection of imported beers. Not for the budget crowd; but can remain open after midnight, depending on the number of customers.
- American Discotheque, located on 3rd floor of An Dong plaza on An Duong Vuong st., District 5. It’s definitely the biggest disco in Saigon, with great music and lights. It has also two seperated karaoke rooms where you could be sing ’til being tired. You could also enter it from Windsor Plaza Saigon Hotel.
- VIBE Billiards & Lounge, 02 Sương Nguyệt Ánh, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1. VIBE – Saigon’s most premium billiards lounge in town has a unique combination of high-class professional billiards & spacious lounge. At VIBE, guests can choose not only tasty foods and drinks but also customize the billiard table lights from the special lighting system which is exclusively designed for VIBE..
- 163 Cyclo Bar, 163 Pham Ngu Lao Street, 2 doors down from the Duna Hotel. Thumping music until 2 a.m. and really friendly staff. The Vietnamese girls seem to have a strong affinity for Caucasian men.
- Allez Boo, corner Pham Ngu Lao, De Tham. For those that have been here before, you’ll find the original bar is now Highlands coffee and an all new Allez Boo has opened on the opposite corner. It’s shiny and brand-new, but retains the same feel as the original. There’s an air-conditioned bar on the second floor with DJ-type music, and an airy rooftop patio. Quite similar to its sibling establishment, Go2 Bar. Saigon green VND 30.000.
- Apocalypse Now, 2C Thi Sach. Legendary and still packed on weekends, although aside from a few movie references it’s not all that much to look at. Stays open late. Now opened their 2nd floor for dj, dancing, drinks with less crowded atmosphere. Cover charge of 150000 VND (9 USD) for locals (and those of Asian appearance), almost always waived for foreigners and anyone fashionably dressed.
- Vasco’s, upstairs of 74 Hai Ba Trung Street, District 1, opposite Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel. You go to the alley of 74 Hai Ba Trung and find the bar on your left, 1st floor. It has terrific live music at certain nights in a week and a typical bar atmosphere for both tourists and expats. Drinks from VND50,000 (US$2.5), including sales tax, tip is not necessary.
- Alibi, 11 Thai Van Lung. Very cozy atmosphere, with sofas lining the walls and beautiful decor. good food & drinks selection, nice music, and a mix of both local & expat people. friendly staff, and the management’s always there to make you feel welcome and make sure you get what you are asking for.
- Catwalk, at the side of New World Hotel. All in one place with a massage parlour, disco, KTV and a mini casino. Price is on the expensive side but it is a sight to behold. (Please note that if you want to occupy a room @ KTV, the minimum purchase is USD200.)
- Eden, De Tham Street. Often busy, full of sporties, revellers, expats and others. Dark and deep and reasonably priced for the backpacker main drag.
- Go2 Bar, corner De Tham and Bui Vien. The main backpacker bar while Allez Boo was closed, still a great meeting place, as it’s impossible to miss the four floors of neon lights on the outside. Large patio on the sidewalk at street level, a cozier bar on the second floor with occasional live music or big-screen sports, plus a rooftop patio (with retractable roof!) with individual BBQs up a steep set of stairs on the fifth floor. Open very late most nights, all night on weekends. Saigon green VND 30.000.
- Rex Hotel rooftop, corner of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi. They serve a buffet dinner at the dinner hour, which gradually gives way to drinks and music. Acts change over time, but recently included a Filipino band playing FM classics and a Vietnamese group playing Latin and flamenco. It’s a pleasant place to get above the city noise and enjoy some fresh air. In years past, it was also a good value, but recent aggressive price increases have put it into the expense-account-only category: cocktails around 140,000 dong (including the ++, which hotels always add).
- Level 23, Sheraton Saigon 23F. The latest on the 5-star hotel drinking scene, with separate bar and nightclub, and great views over the city. A little soulless though, and very pricey with most drinks 80000 dong.
- Le Pub, 175/22 Pham Ngu Lao, located on the small road which connects Pham Ngu Lao and Bui Vien. Always busy after 6PM, famous for its western strength drinks, daily dollar-specials (e.g. Tuesday $1 for vodka mixers all night) and friendly staff. It has the same owner as Le Pub in Hanoi. The Pub Quiz (almost every Tuesday) is very popular with expats, especially the english teachers. Get there early or it’s too packed to find a place to sit down. Indoors and outdoor tables available.
- Oblivion, Bui Vien. Late night venue with lots of character, claims to be Saigon’s premier music bar and it’s hard to argue – assuming, that is, you have a taste for non-chart buzzy British guitar and obscure dark US/European stuff. You have to ask for happy pop, though if you’re spending enough it’ll sometimes get an outing. Like most Saigon bars, it attracts its share of working girls. If you’re not interested, simply say you’re not and you’ll be left alone.
- Saigon Saigon, Caravelle Hotel 9F, 12-13 Lam Son Square. A pleasant, breezy bar with a great view of the city. Live band (Cuban) playing inside every night. Cool, quiet ambience on the terrace. Attracts an expense-account crowd due to the prices (cocktails mostly >100,000 dong including the ++).
- Shadow Bar, 41 Dong Du Street. Expat bar, good place to wind down or up. Recently renovated as an upmarket bar and restaurant under the new name of ZanziBar. Excellent menu, wine selection and imported beers along with a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere.
- Sheridan’s, Le Thanh Ton near Thai Van Lung. Small, cozy Irish-themed bar with imported draft beer and live music. Brits will appreciate the great food tasting of home (or the closest you’ll get here).
- Underground - more a food than a drink spot, though open for both. Sometimes busy with the business crowd, always packed with people enjoying the reasonably priced burgers, steaks and the like. Currently closed and looking for a new venue (as of May 2009)
- Cage - 3A Ton Duc Thang Street, District 1. As the name suggest the place is filled with birth cage. Very international crowd on the weekend with good mixed of local and expat/English teachers/backpackers.
Where you can see the locals
- VIBE Billiards & Lounge, 02 Sương Nguyệt Ánh, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1. VIBE – Saigon’s most premium billiards lounge in town has a unique combination of high-class professional billiards & spacious lounge. At VIBE, guests can choose not only tasty foods and drinks but also customize the billiard table lights from the special lighting system which is exclusively designed for VIBE..
- Lush, at the far west end of Ly Tu Trong. A nightclub in the Western style, with loud pulsing music and minimalist too-cool decor. Drink prices on par with most Saigon Nightclubs, musically about as good as it gets in this part of the world if you like the particular style. Mixed crowd (Vietnamese, tourists and expats), pretty good food but has a small dance floor. Ladies night on Tuesday offers free drinks for ladies until midnight. Be sure to arrive early as it gets very busy from around 10.30pm and it is difficult to get served at the bar.
- America Disco at 3rd floor of An Dong Plaza, but you could enter it from Windsor Plaza Saigon Hotel also. One of the best bar in Saigon.
- Q Bar Saigon The original, internationally acclaimed Q Bar established in 1992 under the Opera House. Mix of locals, tourists and expats in a grotto-like uber-chic setting that could as easily be in Soho as Saigon. Open till late every night. Great cocktails, though at very high prices, similar to the roof-top bar of the Caravelle Hotel across the street. It’s the cool place to be seen if you have a lot of Uncle Hos in your pocket. Terrace and Indoor areas. DJ nights.
- Xu Bar , Hai Ba Trung street, near the Opera house. Great wine list. Nice ambiance & service. Not a club.
- Velvet, Ho Huan Nghiep/ Dong Khoi corner. Nice ambiance & music. Latest chic bar in town. Gets very busy, and at weekends you will need a booking.
- Bounce Club, on top of Parkson on Le Thanh Ton street. Very crowded with locals in the weekends. Large dance floor, great hip hop music, somewhat too crowded.
- Acoustic Cafe, 6E1 Ngô Thời Nhiệm. Though only 1 km from the heavily touristed center, this club is completely outside the tourist orbit, and offers an interesting view of local life. The all-Vietnamese house band performs every night, mostly American music, and it’s always jammed with student-aged groupies. For some reason, they address the crowd in English between songs, even though half the crowd doesn’t understand. On weekends, at least, you need to arrive by 7:30 to have any hope of getting a seat. If your hobby is rock ballad or hardrock, you should go on Friday night
- Carmen, 8 Ly Tu Trong, reopened in June 2009 after being dark for almost two years. The house band has changed some personnel but is still good, specializing in flamenco, salsa, and Latin pop, with an eclectic mix of other popular songs thrown in. Prices are up a lot — cocktails 110,000 vnd, shots 80-85,000 — but still no cover charge. It’s popular and fills up on weekends.
- Ice Blue, Dong Khoi. Downtown English pub, complete with darts board and warm beer (if you want it that way!). Friendly, but shuts at midnight.
- Juice, claims to be Saigon’s first juice bar (of course it wasn’t, there were many local places before – but maybe it was the first Western-managed one). Food slipped recently, but still a nice place to hang out. Has Wi-Fi.
- Khong Ten, (literally “No Name”), 147 Hai Ba Trung, is a large cabaret featuring some of the biggest Vietnamese celebrity singers still in Vietnam. The headliner is often familiar to the locals from television. Most overseas visitors would not like the musical style very much (mostly the mellow-to-melancholy, soft-jazzy, love-ballady style favored by the middle and older generation of Vietnamese.) But it’s pure Vietnam and very popular with HCMC residents and Vietnamese expats on trips home. The cover charge is about the highest in town at 150,000 dong.
- La Habana, 6 Cao Ba Quat, about two blocks north of the Hyatt. A restaurant and bar with Cuban theme that makes outstanding cocktails for 60,000 dong. Some are available in pitcher-size for 150,000 to 180,000 dong. The food is also excellent, though at the high end of Saigon prices. Their Friday night live music headliner, Jeram, has returned from Ireland, and it’s usually standing-room only.
- Lion’s, 11-13 Lam Son Square, Dist.1 (next to Caravelle hostel). Brewery – Restaurant (somewhat German food), with tasty beers at an affordable price. The outside terrace is a nice place to chill out, and the inside restaurant is very welcoming with its two beer tanks and cosy bar. Cocktails are very good. Not a good place to please your teeth and tongue. though.
- Metallic Bar, 41 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, District 3. House band plays covers of Metallica, Guns N Roses and other popular rock bands nightly between 9PM and midnight.
- Napoly, Pham Ngoc Thach near the “Turtle Pond”. The ground floor is a popular, somewhat upscale cafe with inside and outside seating. The bar is upstairs in the back, with a decent house band singing a mixture of Vietnamese and English songs. The resident band must predate the reunification as they know all the old songs.
- Peaches Saigon South (Phu My Hung). Great place to enjoy a few drinks with friends. Friendly staff, great Asian food!!
- Polo, Ham Nghi Street (above the Liberty Hotel). Mixture of expats and locals, starts getting busy quite early. Reasonably priced food and drink, good music spanning from the Eighties to the present. Noisy and smokey.
- Rio Saigon, A brazilian flowery decor-themed bar/pub with a great Fillipino house band playing Pop/Rock (Bon Jovi, Skid Row fare). This joint was apparently the original “17 Saloon” bar (now at Pham Ngu Lao) when it was still located along the Saigon River. Great service staff and excellent atmosphere. It is situated at 131 Ton That Dam St. (District 1), Tel: (08)8211827 – 8211812. You will be surprised that its located somewhere within a wet street market. Gets crowded around 9PM and closes at midnight.
- Saigon Pho, this little hole in the wall is only a stone’s throw from Allez Boo, but much more expat orientated. Open late.
- Serenata and Soi Da, 6E Ngô Thời Nhiệm. Two open-air cafe-bars with live music in Villa-style settings, which attract few if any tourists but typify what most Vietnamese consider a pleasant evening out. Both feature a mix of classical chamber music, Vietnamese lounge songs, American FM classics, and the odd French song.
- The Tavern SB8-1 My Khanh 2 (H4-2) Nguyen Van Linh, Saigon South (Phu My Hung) tel: 4120866. Great place to enjoy a cold beer or a great “Western” meal – favourite dishes are fish’n'chips & bangers’n'mash. Reasonable prices and nice, friendly staff and management. Opens for breakfast, closes at midnight.
